Ready to see some fireballs in the air? It’s almost time for the Perseid meteor shower to reach its peak, set on what is typically the best meteor shower of the year.
Just one word of caution for skywatchers: The month of August will be a little past its final quarter phase just as the Perseid meteor shower will pass. As a result, moonlight will make it harder to see all those shooting stars – up to 60 per hour.
However, the outlook should be better than last year, when the moon was very close to its full phase. Experts say you can still catch a decent amount of shooting stars – and even some bright fireballs – if you find a dark location and get up late at night and early in the morning.
Even though the 2020 Meteor shower of 2020 will be at its best on Tuesday 11th August and Wednesday 12th August, it already produces enough meteors to make it worthwhile to do some early stargazing.
Tame-lapse image of the Perseid meteor shower.
When to Search for the Perseids
Experts from EarthSky.org say the view can still be very good as late as Wednesday morning, late Wednesday night and early Thursday morning, as long as the sky is clear.
It will still be possible to see some Perseids for 10 days or so after the peak. While it will be in smaller numbers, there will be less moonlight to illuminate the sky, with the moon rising every night until August 17, when there will be moonless skies all night long.
The Perseid meteor shower at Little Sable Point Lighthouse near Golden Township, just south of Silver Lake State Park in the early morning of Thursday, August 13, 2015. MLive.com
Where to see the Perseid meteor shower
You can see Perseid’s meteors from almost anywhere, but experts say you increase your chances of going to a park or open space in a rural area, as far away from bright city lights and street lights as possible.
Good timing also helps.
“The best time to see any meteor shower is after midnight,” Amie Gallagher, director of the planetarium at Raritan Valley Community College in Somerset County, told us ahead of the Perseid meteor shower in 2018. “That’s when part of the Earth that you are on goes into the stream of meteors. “
Experts at NASA also say that it is best to wait until after midnight to search for the Perseid meteors – preferably in the pre-dawn hours – although some meteors could be as visible as 10 pm
When you ask yourself, you do not need a telescope or binoculars – only your eyes.
Meteors from the Perseid meteor shower were seen in a previous summer just after the sun set but before the sunrise in Colorado.OS- Jimmy Westlake
What are the Perseid meteors?
Although they appear large from Earth, the Perseid meteors are actually small pieces of pun from the tail of the comet Swift-Tuttle. The comet orbits the sun, leaving a trace of pun, and every August our planet moves through the pun.
Skywatchers on Earth can see some of the pun, which looks like shooting stars. Because the earth rotates, most of our planet misses most of the comet’s pun by midnight.
That’s the reason it’s the best time to watch the Perseid meteor shower after midnight, any time until breakfast. Those hours are ideal for seeing most shooting stars, and maybe even some larger and brighter meteors, known as fireballs.
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Evan Slavit is reachable to [email protected]. Len Melisurgo is perhaps reachable [email protected].
